#CareerTruth: "I Made My Choice At 15 And No Single Family Member Tried To Interfere"

A lot of people studied courses that their parents wanted them to study. Some other people didn't get the course they applied for and ended up studying something else. Some people are not practicing what they studied. Are you doing what you planned to do when you were a child? Is your present career better than what you planned to do? Every week we'll be sharing stories of people and their Career Truth.

This week I had a chat with a 26-year-old who made her decision at 15 without any family interference.

What did you want to study?

I don’t know... I wanted to be many things. Growing up, I said I wanted to be a Scientist. That’s the first thing I remember. Later on I thought maybe I could be a Farmer.

Haha. Interesting.

I know right! I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I got into secondary school and didn’t think so much about it until after we wrote Junior WAEC in JSS3.

What happened after Junior WAEC?

I was put in commercial class after the exams. My secondary school had a system where they fix you in classes according to your strength and ability not just because you want to be in a particular class.

That sounds like something 

I really didn’t care to be honest. I was prepared to take whatever they gave me. If they had put me Arts, Sciences or even Technical class, I would have stayed there.

When I got to SS3, I looked for the course that had the least amount of calculations I will have to be faced with. That was my major concern. That was what I was aiming at.

Oh, any particular reason why?

I was just looking for where I had strength because I am not too analytical. Unfortunately, I don’t think I did my research well because Business Administration requires a lot of mathematics, accounting, finance and all of that.

How old were you when you picked the course?

I was 15. The course I chose was what I ended up studying.

Oh great. You are first so far. How about your parents? No influence?

No single family member tried to interfere with my choices.

That’s good. So you made your choice and stayed true to it.

Yes, I did.

Great! So what are you doing now?

I am currently a business woman. haha.

Do you have any other plans for your career?

My career goal is to end up in business analytics. And this is in line with the course I studied in the university.

Did you do any other thing after school before entrepreneurship?

I worked as a teacher during NYSC. I really didn’t have a choice. I taught Business Studies and Commerce. I have also worked as an Administrative Assistant. I volunteered for about a year then I eventually got a temporary position for another year.

Do you have plans to go back to school?

Yes. I have a Masters Degree already but I still have plans to do some professional courses to build up myself to reach my goal.

A second master’s degree is also a possibility but priority is professional courses for now.

When do you intend to start this?

I have already started. I am taking some courses online.

Do you think you might want to change your career path later?

I haven’t thought of that. I just want to get a good job as a business analyst and also develop myself with all the courses I am taking right now. That’s priority for me.

That’s good. I wish you all the best

Thank you.

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